Conventionally, various systems for supplying programs which are sold and purchased via the Internet has been proposed. For example, WO96/35158 (published date: Jul. 11, 1996), discloses an apparatus for selling and purchasing programs via the Internet while protecting copyright of the programs.
Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 68058/1989 (Tokukaisho 64-68058) (published date: Mar. 14, 1989), discloses a facsimile apparatus whose functions can be expanded. This facsimile apparatus obtains programs for operating the expanded functions via communication means, and carries out the programs. Thus, functions which were not provided in the facsimile apparatus when it was purchased can be operated.
However, in the apparatus mentioned in Published Unexamined Patent Application WO96/35158, before purchasing the programs, a user needed to judge an operating environment of the user's terminal such as a personal computer, and to judge whether the program can be operated or not, that is, to judge whether the program can be installed and operated or not in the user's terminal.
After judging that the program can be operated in the operating environment of the user's apparatus, the user downloads the program via the Internet by using the apparatus. Therefore, the user sometimes failed in judging the operating environment of the terminal exactly, or overlooked a part of the operating environment, so that the misjudgment is brought about. For example, if the user misjudges the operating environment to be the one in which the program can be operated while it cannot, it means that the user purchases the useless program.
Also, the facsimile apparatus mentioned in the Tokukaisho 64-68058 merely obtain the program via communication means. Thus, before receiving the program, the user needed to judge whether the program can be operated or not in the operating environment of his/her apparatus. Therefore, when the user failed in judging the operating environment of the apparatus exactly, the program could not be executed and the expanded function could not be operated either.
Further, in recent complex digital image formation apparatuses, after setting basic functions as needed, some functions selected from various expanded functions are complex with the basic functions so as to meet various demands of users. There is no problem in combining the selected functions with the basic functions if it is done at the time of purchase. However, after purchasing the apparatus, the user needs to select a new program, and to judge whether the program can be installed and operated in the terminal apparatus. Therefore, as mentioned above, when the user fails in judging, the user purchases the useless program.